The Vatican is publishing its first public document on the sexual abuse of children by priests. Pope Benedict has written a pastoral letter to Roman Catholics in Ireland. The letter to be published on Saturday is expected to set out new guidelines covering the prevention and the punishment of child abuse. From Rome, here is David Willey.

The Pope decided to write a pastoral letter to the Catholic face of Ireland after meeting the 26 Irish bishops who he summoned to Rome last month to report on the pedophile priest scandal there. But since then, evidence of surveys of similar scandals in several other countries, including the Pope's homeland, Germany. A taboo that's endured for decades has been broken. And the Vatican is now taking a much harder line than in the past, recommending a zero tolerance attitude adopted by American bishops after widespread cases of sexual abuse of children by priests in the United States.

Some news just in. We getting reports of an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza. A French news agency quotes Palestinian medical officials as saying Israeli planes hit a disused airport, injuring three people.

A controversial law designed to increase patriotism in Slovakia has been vetoed by President Ivan Gasparovic. The law drafted by a radical nationalist party would have required all schools to display symbols of Slovak identity and for them to play the national anthem for every week. The bill was originally introduced in response to a perceived growth in anti-Slovak rhetoric in Hungary.